I am only one German, but a year ago the idea of German Panzers killing Russians was a nightmare. But Putins war of denazification by dehousing and liberation by rape and ethnic cleansing changed me.
Germany´s attitude has changed, from helmets to whatever the Ukrainian military needs and can somehow be provided, in ONE YEAR.
3 Likes
What has been agreed to this far? I thought Britain was offering some Tornadoes but it didn’t work out. Euro fighters are probably the way to go. It will force the US to give F16’s which should have been done already since I thought we were already training pilots. I wish we would just go for F15’s since they have updated models so more of a spare parts chain although I am sure the US won’t let the new F15’s go.
Btw I saw a video claiming patriots had shot down a Russian fighter. No confirmation but it was heartening.
1 Like
If you don’t have parts you don’t have them, that is not delays. The 2A4 is an old model so parts will be an issue. Is there an upgrade path from 2A4 to 2A6?
Germany has made huge strides and all of Europe has seen a huge attitude shift. The US on the other hand is seeing more resistance. We are not close to cutting off the spigot as Congress approved a big chunk at the end of 2022. We will see what happens in a couple of months but I think the votes for more support are still well in the majority.
2 Likes
There is an (expensive and time consuming) upgrande path from (not first line produktion) A4s to A6. But the point is, that the Polish goverment is complaining that it is Germanys fault that Poland can not provide Ukraine with Leopards, because the only Leopards of 249 are the ones which need spare parts not avaiable from Germany.
1 Like
Honestly that’s bull crap. If Poland doesn’t have the spare parts they must not have planned on using them themselves. If they ordered the parts and were using them, then they would not have gone out of production. So Poland taking tanks out of storage cannot be Germanys problem to maintain.
Countries giving Leopard 1’s are going to have the same issue. Parts come from cannibalizing other vehicles and that has limits.
1 Like
Leopard 1 based vehicels are still used, so spare parts will be in production.
2 Likes
I appreciate both the reticence and the change. Many people are being exposed to a conventional two-nation war in Europe for the first time in decades.*
For all the armchair tactics analysis, there is a reason why we said ‘never again’ in 1945.
*The Dissolution of Yugoslavia was much more of a guerilla war; it was also a civil war.
3 Likes
The facts you’re denying? The fact that many officials from the FY government have been convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and genocide?
You should also be aware of the way you are using this piece here. There’s nothing in this piece that will tell you if the crimes were actually committed or not, but it is insinuating they didn’t or were at least vastly overblown. This is a slippery slope of constructing a false narrative from trueish stories.
And don’t start about moral values. You’ve clearly demonstrated yours to be fully guided by your hatred of the United States of America. You don’t care about lying in bed with fascists, communists or any other brutal dictators, as long as they claim to hate America with you.
2 Likes
A bit long, but I think it is not a waste of time:
1 Like
Another awesome contribution.
2 Likes
Yes, pointing out how much Putin changed the World with his invasion. For Europe and the US, but also for China and India.
1 Like
The not “Führer” not from headlines but in his own English:
1 Like
Update
Lately the news media and military think tanks around the world have been talking about whether Russia has an adequate tank force anymore. Through Oryx it has been confirmed almost 1800 tanks have been destroyed but this is confirmed Russian tank losses. It is thought that 2500-3100 Russian MBT have been destroyed, captured or abandoned.
It is known Russia has a huge amount of tank reserves but most are in serious disrepair from lack of maintenance, improper storage and wide spread corruption. At the moment it is thought that Russia has about 1500 tanks in active duty but less than 60% are combat ready. Most military think tanks think that in the reserves Russia can field at most 1800 tanks that would be combat ready but the vast majority would be 1960s era T62s and far outmatched by western standards.
Add to that trained tank crews are becoming a rare commodity and it has been independently confirmed by several sources within Russia that the tank crews being trained are taught only the basics and little to no cohesion with other tank units. Train a crew give them a tank and send them out to basically die.
——
With that being said on the Ukrainian side they are losing tanks to not battle but maintenance as they are breaking down more and more frequently due to extreme usage.
It is thought that Ukraine currently has a tank fleet of around 1200-1500 but can only field about 800-1000 at any given time due to down time for repairs. However with that being said Ukraine has captured hundreds of Russian tanks that they can field in short order. Through Oryx the Ukrainians have captured 548 tanks but unofficially it is thought to be closer to 900 tanks.
Unlike the Russian tank crews the Ukrainian tank crews are fairly well trained and are a fairly capable fighting force as despite using outdated and under armoured tanks they are using western tactics and their own unique training to be fairly effective in the field.
Also unlike Russia the Ukrainian tank crews that are being currently trained are being trained by several NATO members in western tactics which are proving far superior to Russian tactics.
Even with the addition of Leopards and Abrams tanks it will only add up to just over 200 tanks and support vehicles but both are far superior to most of the tanks Russia currently field and a lot of militaries around the world are waiting to see how this small addition of tanks will help the Ukrainians which are expected to be used in a spring offensive in late March or April.
1 Like
Inside Germany the training is organised to provide Brigades, not only crews. The commander of the training explaining:
1 Like
The not “Führer” not from headlines but in his own English:
It seemed like good responses. I thought it was a friendly but good interview. I did think his answer about shortages of ammunition requiring permanent production interesting. In the US, sometimes stopping production is harder than starting it. No one wants to turn off the money train which is why we have 3,000 plus m1’s in storage. Many of which the army didn’t request and most we can’t sell due to export controls.
If Europe needs a chairmen of the board I think he is a good choice. He makes more sense than Biden.
1 Like
I do not want to evaluate American politics, but in Germany Scholz (and his ministers) is attacked because of partisan politics. Your president`s actions are not always the ones I want him to make, but I am sure he is better qualified then me to do his job. 
And he helped the Ukrainians to resist and united NATO.
I understand you don’t want to criticize just as I feel that Germany has come so far in 1 year. Sometimes I feel that it is the smaller countries leading the way. NATO hasn’t been this United in over 50 years imho.
I feel NATO came to the conclusion that if Ukraine falls the war will spread and leaked documents liked today’s document about taking over Belarus seem to back it up. I don’t feel that most Americans understand this but we hate the little guy being overrun by tyrants. NATO defends Ukraine to stop a wider war while Zelensky keeps warning of world war 3. It’s hard to think that we aren’t growing weary of this message when we need to pay more attention.
So I like Germanys cool and calm approach. I just not sure I feel that way.
1 Like
Canada and the US are the only two NATO members not on continental Europe and for us the war takes on a different meaning per se as we are not “directly” affected like other nations who are closer to the fighting and have more to worry about. Neither Canada or the US have to be worried about being invaded or worry about gas, oil or mineral resources to fuel and heat their respective economies and populations.
It is more so noticeable in the US than Canada but Americans have a certain disconnect with Europe as they have little understanding of European politics and history other than the US involvement in WW1&2 leading to not quite apathy but no real understanding either. Canada fairs somewhat better in this respect due to closer ties to The commonwealth and Europe overall but still there is that disconnect because an ocean separates us from the conflict.
With that being said it is well known the US is the largest backer of NATO and Ukraine. What is less well known is Canada is the 4th largest contributor to Ukraine(US, GB, Germany, Canada, Poland) and third largest to NATO (US, GB, Canada, Germany, Poland) both financially and militarily.
This conflict has brought NATO closer together than ever before from its all time low with Hairboy threatening to pull out of NATO back in 2017 and has brought out the fact that despite an ocean separating 2 members of the alliance it has become quite unified despite some minor disagreements and political issues and this scares Russia more than anything else instead of a wedge being forced into the alliance it has become stronger both militarily and politically with no sign of major changes in the foreseeable future.
2 Likes
Per capita? In absolute numbers it would not make any sense to me.
1 Like
Here is a chart if you exclude the EU as it is not a country you can see what each country has provided